As Long As You're With Me
by Midnight Muser
Summary: Armin has always been there for Annie on her bad days—the days when the weight of her title feels like its becoming too much for her to bear. Although he doesn't quite know it, she appreciates him being there a lot more than she lets herself show. And although Armin feels as if her anxieties heavily fall back to his decisions in the past, he has yet to learn she feels differently.


**AN: A birthday fic I wrote for my friend Eren. Based off of her Royal AU (go to erenlalonde dot tumblr dot com /tagged/royal-au for more information about the au). **

**This is my first time trying to write smut in a long time, so try not to judge me ****_too_**** hard.**

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><p>His fingers lingered over the diamond doorknob as he weighed his options in his overactive mind; to go in, or not to go in? He knew that her majesty—Annie, as only he and a few select others were allowed to call her—was in a horrid mood today, and as much as he wanted to make her feel better, he<em> knew<em> how she could get when anyone bothered her for any amount of time.

He also knew the warmth of her hand as she squeezed his own a little_ too_ tightly, letting her frustrations out on him through a plethora of colorful words and expressions.

Eliciting a heavy sigh full of all his hesitation, he placed one hand on the knob and knocked on the wooden door with his other. "Annie, may I please come in?" he asked, waiting with bated breath for an answer.

There were a few moments of silence from the other end of the door, and Armin was beginning to wonder if she was even in there at all. _'How stupid of me,'_ he thought, 'Why would she be in here of all places? Anyone could find her and make her feel even worse.' He was really beginning to beat himself up inside for his seemingly stupid decision to come to her room, but before he could get too far, he heard the quiet shuffling of feet from inside the closed-off room. The next moment brought the sound of someone pressing up against the frame of the door, and he smiled.

"What do you want, Armin," Annie asked from the other side of the door. If he could see her now, he'd probably back off immediately; her eyes were bloodshot from the rage that she felt towards the kingdoms surrounding her—why couldn't they just_ leave her alone_?—and her body was so rigid, it seemed as if she'd break from any form of sudden movement. The _last_ thing she wanted was company… Yet, she knew that Armin had good intentions, and that was the only reason she had answered his call.

Upon hearing the sound of her voice, Armin immediately gulped; she sounded _dreadful_. He knew this was going to be a tough mood of hers to crack, but with careful wording and just the right amount of—as Annie called it, although affectionately—grotesque affection, he could do it; like so many other times before, he _knew _he could do it.

"I just wanted to make sure you're alright," he answered, and then immediately regretted saying that.

Her voice came out cold this time—distant, as she said: "I'm fine, Armin. In fact, I've never been better."

There was another minute's pause, then the creaking of the door as Annie partially poked her head out of the doorway. "Are you alone?" she asked, although she already knew the answer to that question; it never changed, after all.

Chuckling, Armin let his hand rest against the door's edge where it was cracked open. "When am I _not _alone," he answered, and Annie couldn't help but to smirk at that before letting him in with no further questions asked.

Once inside the room, Armin took in the familiar sight before him: a simple room with only a King-sized bed, a small bedside table, a vanity, and a window seat overlooking the gardens below. A door located to the side of the room held Annie's clothing, and another door not too far off from the first one held a bathroom. The room was already large enough, but with the lack of any large personal items inhabiting it, it seemed even larger still to him.

He watched as she circled the room a few times, lightly brushing her fingers over the surface of the furniture; her eyes were narrowed, and Armin could tell that she was thinking hard. He waited patiently for her to get her mind back together again. When she was ready to talk, Annie tread over to her bed and sat down. Like every time before now, Armin waited for permission before he sat down next to her. When he received that (silent) permission from her, he enthusiastically joined her.

They sat together like that for a few moments—only the passing of near-silent breaths between parted lips lingering between them. Just when Armin thought that this was going to get nowhere unless he was the first to speak, Annie surprised him; her hand found its way to his, and her head found his shoulder—a heavy, tired sigh, and then warmth as her fingers intertwined with his.

"I don't want to do this anymore," she began, voice uncharacteristically soft—reluctant. Her head shifted so that she was looking up at Armin and into his eyes—blue piercing into blue. "I _never_ wanted to do this," she continued, a hint of bitterness to her voice now. "Yet, here I am."

Armin bit his lip at that, knowing that he was the reason why she was here right now. He wanted to apologize, to tell her that he would do _anything_ to turn back time in order to help her out—because as much as he wanted her here, he_ hated _to see her like this. If only he had known before what he knew now; his rash decisions of the past would have been prevented. He opened his mouth to voice his thoughts, but the tightening of Annie's fingers stopped him from doing so. He glanced at her curiously, only to find that she was glaring at him.

"If you're going to say something along the lines of 'sorry', you need to stop." Her eyes shot downwards after saying this, and her intense look from before softened a bit; once again she looked like she was thinking hard—contemplating her next words. "They would have found me eventually. It was all just a matter of time." she let out a dry laugh at that and looked back up at him, her eyes sparkling with an air of humor. "Although, you did help to speed up the process."

Now it was Armin's turn to look away; his face turned away from her and his hand instinctively shot up to scratch nervously at the back of his neck. He didn't know whether or not he liked the direction this conversation was headed in, but if it brought a smile onto Annie's face, then he'd humor her for a while. She didn't seem mad, at least, and he was thankful for that.

He expected her to keep on going with her jokes, or for her to go back to letting out her frustrations; but—as it seemed to be the theme of the night—she surprised him yet again. "Armin," she spoke, and as she did, her free hand found its way to his cheek. Gently pulling his face back so he was looking at her again, she put a more serious expression on her face.

"Armin, listen to me…" She was trying hard not to stutter—to not let her words go out in a jumbled slur of emotion—but she wasn't used to saying these kinds of things, and it felt foreign to her.

Armin waited patiently for her compose herself, although he was very anxious to see what she had to say to him.

When she started to speak again, she was more put-together. "Armin," she began again, and her eyes pierced into his—made him feel small; like a lamb cowering before a lion, he awaited his fate. "I know that you feel like you made a mistake... And you did." Although her words were damning, her voice held no trace of malice; Armin wondered what she was thinking—what she was trying to get at.

"But I made mistakes too," she continued, "and they're behind me now; they're behind _us_ now."

Armin would have never in a million years thought that he would hear those words come out of her mouth. He remembered saying something similar to her in the past, though; maybe he was beginning to rub off on her? He would have laughed at the thought in any other circumstance, but he felt it would be unwise to do so now. Ruining this mood was the_ last _thing he wanted to do.

"I don't give a damn anymore about what you did before. As long as you stay with me now—as long as you stay with me when I need you the most—I can move on from that." She paused after saying this and her brow creased in concentration. Armin couldn't help but to find her the most beautiful being in the world like this.

"I hate this, I really do. But when I'm with you, I can forget about the rest of the world for little while. I can forget about the absolute chaos waiting for me beyond these stupid walls… I guess that makes living in this hell a little more bearable." She ended the sentence off a little weaker than the rest of her words; she didn't mean to falter, but the absolute raw emotion she just let out with that confession was making her feel weak.

Armin could feel his cheeks grow hot, and he wondered if Annie felt it too on the hand that continued to cup his cheek. Judging from the look on her face—and the considerable blush forming on her cheeks—she did. It was all too much for him to handle, and before he knew it, he was cutting Annie off mid-sentence with his lips; whatever she was trying to tell him was lost in the moment, though the moment was brief.

All too soon, Armin found himself snapping back to reality, and he tore himself away from the woman in front of him. She had a small frown on her face and she wouldn't look at him._ 'Dammit, Arlert! Of all times you couldn't control yourself now? You've probably gone and ruined it all!'_

"A-Annie, I'm_ so _sorry!" His voice came out higher pitched than normal, and he could feel his hands begin to shake. "I didn't mean to- Your Majesty, I swear I-"

At the usage of her formal title, Annie felt herself snap back to attention. Glaring at the man in front of her—already too far gone in his incessant babbling—she found herself getting angry once again. This time, though, it had nothing to do with her position in this world; this time, it had _everything_ to do with a naive bookworm. He'd_ never_ called her "Your Majesty" before (save for when she was first crowned), and the usage of the title now had her in shock. She knew she shouldn't be angry about this—it was only a slip of the tongue, after all—but she just couldn't help it. This was a stressful situation, and it seemed as if neither of them knew what to do.

Weighing her options, Annie finally came to the conclusion that the only way to make him see that she was _perfectly fine_ with him showing his affection in more than the platonic sense was to show him. He wasn't going to listen in this state of mind, anyway. Letting out a huff of annoyance, she leaned forward and grabbed onto his collar. He barely had any time to take in a breath of surprise before her lips crashed into his.

She liked this—_a lot_—she concluded, as her lips worked themselves over his, and he eventually began to kiss her back. Her hands worked themselves into his hair and he sighed, giving Annie the perfect opportunity to try and deepen the kiss. Swiping her tongue over Armin's bottom lip, she waited for him to grant her access—which he did. As soon as her tongue slipped between Armin's lips, the two wasted no time in deepening the kiss instantaneously; they had both been waiting long enough for this moment.

The sounds of sighs and the smacking of lips resonated throughout the room as things got heavier between the two, and Annie found herself seated on Armin's lap, although she didn't quite know when that happened; the fine details didn't matter to her right now, though. The only thing that existed to right now were Armin's lips on hers, and his gentle hands on her hips as she pressed her lower half against him experimentally.

He groaned at this sudden change of pace and his fingers tightened a bit on her figure. Taking this a her cue to continue, Annie let a small, excited and mischievous grin form on her lips as she pulled away from the kiss and continued her slow grind on him.

Quick to respond, Armin dug his fingers into Annie's hips—mimicked her movements in an attempt to add more friction. His lips found her neck and—to his pleasant surprise—when he kissed her there, she sighed in pleasure and wrapped her arms around his neck to keep him there. Smiling to himself, he continued to kiss, suck and lick her sensitive skin, all the while making sure not to leave any marks.

Feeling a bit breathless from these new sensations, Annie moved a bit faster—with a little more determination—until she could feel Armin getting hard underneath her. Pulling herself away from the other's lips (no matter how good they felt against her neck), she stared into his eyes as he began to feel more of this—more of _her_.

The friction felt_ too good _to him, but a small part of Armin's brain told him this was dangerous territory and that they should stop while they were still ahead; after all, he could always finish this off by himself after he got back to his room. He didn't want them to get caught in the act. It _was_ still daytime, after all, and the maids and other workers in the castle were still wandering about. If they were heard, the rumors about them would only spread more.

"Annie… Annie ah-!" he tried to speak, but the way she moved on top of him felt_ too damn good _and he ended up moaning her name instead.

"We- We shouldn't be doing this," he managed to say in between heavy breaths, and trying to stop his traitorous fingers from exploring Annie's body any more than they already were.

"And why not," Annie stated, not stopping in the least bit. She was enjoying the looks of pleasure on Armin's face far too much to stop this now; consequences be damned, she wanted this. She wanted _him._ And by the looks of it, he wanted her too.

"We don't have…protection on us," he said, keeping their safety in mind first, "And it's still the middle of the day. What if we get caught?" His hands found their way back down to her hips and he held them still. He almost groaned from the loss of friction, but he controlled himself for their sake. As much as he wanted this, he wanted to do this right; not just a spur of the moment decision they would probably regret later. He hoped that she'd get that unspoken message, as it was written clearly in his eyes as he spoke to her.

From the way she studied him closely and then heaved out a sigh of defeat, he guessed she did. He couldn't help but to smile admiringly—lovingly—at her as she climbed off of him and sat on her knees in front of him. She looked a bit disheveled from the heavy make out, but, in all truth and honesty, she'd never looked better this entire day. Her eyes—which looked devoid of all life before—sparkled with emotion; her lips were no longer formed into a taut frown, and instead were slightly parted, the hints of a smile wavering upon them; her posture was relaxed unlike when he first entered her room.

_'She's beautiful.'_ Armin found himself thinking—almost out loud—as she opened her mouth to speak.

"You should probably go," she said, and Armin felt his heart sink down into his stomach, worried that she already regretted what they had done.

"Oh." Her eyes widened a bit at the sullen look forming on his face. "Only because people will start to get suspicious that you're not in the library like you normally are at this time."

Not able to keep in the relieved sigh he felt building up inside of him at Annie's words, Armin smiled and rolled his eyes. Although he was happy that Annie didn't regret anything, and her only concern was for their confidentiality, he knew for a fact that he wouldn't be going _anywhere _near the library for a while. He had_ other_ business to attend to before he could even _think _about hitting the books.

"Do you_ really_ think I'll be going to the library after all of this?" he asked, a sly look on his face. Annie couldn't help but to blush as his words sunk in.

"You're right, though," he said, chuckling and taking her hands as he pulled her off of the bed with him. "I should probably be going."

They walked hand-in-hand to the door, then paused when they got to it.

"Will you come see me again later?" Annie asked, a small glimpse of hopefulness in her eyes. Looking like her like that, how could Armin say no?

"Only if you want to see me."

"What makes you think I wouldn't want to see you after saying that?"

The exasperated quirk of her brow while she spoke made Armin laugh, and he nodded. "Sorry, that was stupid of me."

Annie only gave him a knowing look in reply and she sighed, leaning in so that she could rest her forehead against his. "Thank you, Armin," she said. "For everything."

Armin was going to say something along the lines of it being no problem at all—if he could, he would stay with her all day long just to see her happy—but she started to talk again before he could get a word in.

"But," she continued, and Armin found himself wondering what the exception to her words could be. "If you ever call me Your Majesty again, I _will_ kick your scrawny ass." She was on the verge of laughing at the look of shock on Armin's face, but she contained herself and, instead, bit the tip of his nose lightly.

Armin's eyebrows knitted together at that; had he really said that? He didn't remember, but he guessed he'd said and done a lot of things today that he normally wouldn't. At the feeling of Annie's teeth against his nose, he quickly came back down to Earth. The look in her eyes as he glanced at her told him that she wasn't _too_ upset.

"I was joking; kind of," she smirked as her arms wrapped around Armin's neck, "Now stop thinking so hard, and kiss me goodbye."

Not needing any more of an invitation, Armin let his lips find Annie's once more before he left her room, his heart beating like the drums of war he'd often heard from the other side of the wall.

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><p><strong>Thank you for taking the time to read this!<strong>

**Comments and the like are very appreciated! **


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